Back in the 1950s, a young girl is kidnapped from a remote village in South America and abandoned in the jungle by her captors.

For about the next five years, Marina Chapman lost her identity — to this day, she doesn’t know her real name — becoming a feral child, bonding with a colony of capuchin monkeys and learning their ways.

Her return to civilization was a journey of cruel exploitation. Sold by two hunters to a brothel madam, she was beaten and ill-treated, a household slave groomed for prostitution before she escaped.

She endured further mistreatment as a homeless street kid in the Colombian town of Cucuta, at the hands of a family connected to organized crime and during a brief stay at a convent, until being rescued by a kind neighbour who sent her to live with a daughter in Bogota.

It’s a story — contained in a memoir entitled The Girl with No Name, published by Greystone Books in Canada — that even her younger daughter, Vanessa Davis, admitted strains credulity.

“I know Mum’s tale is very, very far-fetched. But we’re really not out to prove anything. It’s just a family story and we’re completely secure in ourselves,” said Davis, 29.

“It’s taken a while to be published because of the whole credibility thing. A lot of (literary agents) were like ‘Ooh, no, it’s too unbelievable, we don’t want this.’ I mean, how do you prove a story like that?”

Davis said she’s baffled by the reaction of some “very angry” people and accusations that the book is an invention to make money. In fact, the book’s royalties will be donated to charities that battle child exploitation and human trafficking in Colombia.

Chapman and her daughter have gone to some pains to answer their doubters, making two trips back to Colombia — one in 2007 and one last year — where they filmed interviews with people from the village of Loma de Bolivar and Cucuta who knew the strange tale of a wild child from the jungle.

“That’s where it really hit for me, just to meet these people who would say, ‘oh, yeah, I used to come home after work and see you tied up a tree in the back garden’ or someone who said, ‘oh, yeah, I heard about this wild girl who used to talk like an animal and sit in trees.’ She (Chapman) was like this legend in the village (Loma de Bolivar),” Davis said.

A letter by Nancy Flight, associate publisher/editorial director of Greystone Books, also seeks to answer skeptics, noting that Chapman’s story has been examined by experts in psychology and primate behaviour, all of whom have found it convincing.

“I have not found anything really significant which would sound the alarm that this is all the product of a fanciful and false memory,” said Dr. Bryan Tully, a U.K. forensic and clinical psychologist who specializes in credibility and deception.

On a North American press tour for the book, Chapman said returning to Colombia was a wrenching experience.

“It was emotional and I just started to weep. I didn’t know I was going to react like that. It really moved me and I couldn’t (pull) myself together. I realized that my language was gone, my Spanish language,” she said.

Writing the book involved Chapman working with her daughter over two years to recover memories, followed by research to verify details. The manuscript was then turned over to U.K. novelist Lynne Barrett-Lee, who shaped it into its present form, a reconstructed, compelling first-person account of Chapman’s harrowing childhood and adolescence.

“I’m glad now,” Chapman said, her voice still strongly accented despite 30 years living in Yorkshire.

“I didn’t want to do it (at first), I just wanted to collect more information. I can’t believe people are interested.”

Davis said it was her idea, not her mother’s, to turn the stories she heard throughout her childhood into a book.

“She (Chapman) never wanted to write a book on her life. She’s not wanted fame or anything. It’s something that she’s not been interested in because she’s just so happy with what she’s got,” Davis said.

That includes husband John, a retired scientist and church organist, two daughters and grandchildren. A retired chef, Chapman volunteers at a Bradford inner city youth club and for an organization that provides support for prostitutes.

Davis said her mother’s early life shaped the woman she has become.

“Mum’s like the ultimate person for not feeling sorry for herself and look what she’s been through. She just keeps on going and she’s always taught us that,” Davis said.

Chapman said one lesson endures from her early years living among capuchin monkeys.

“You can rely on animals because you know where you stand with them. When it comes to (people), it becomes a lot more complicated,” Chapman said.

The experience also left Chapman with an enduring affinity and love of nature.

“I can’t have pets because my husband is allergic. Believe me, if I had my way, I’d wish to have a country house with plenty of animals. That’s my dream,” she said.

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